The Shanghai Tower J Hotel might set the world record as the highest hotel when finished in 2014.
The establishment, a new brand of Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Co Ltd (Jin Jiang Hotels), will span the 84th to 110th floors of the Shanghai Tower, which will rise 632 meters, or 121 stories. Construction began two years ago.
The hotel will feature 258 luxury guestrooms. The lobby will be on the 101st floor.
Jin Jiang Hotels said it will be the world's highest luxury hotel when it opens in late 2014 or early 2015, surpassing the Park Hyatt Shanghai, which currently holds the honor.
The Park Hyatt occupies the 79th to 93rd floors of Shanghai's tallest building, the World Financial Center.
The Shanghai Tower is located in the central business district of Lujiazui, Pudong district, near the Shanghai World Financial Center and Jin Mao Tower.
The 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which opened early this year, is the world's highest skyscraper. But its hotel, fashion designer Giorgio Armani's first, only occupies the 160-level structure's lower stories.
The Shanghai Tower J Hotel will also challenge the new Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong expected to open next year.
The Ritz-Carlton occupies the top floors of Hong Kong's 118-floor, 484-meter-high International Commerce Centre. Its lobby is 425 meters aboveground.
The high-end Shanghai Tower J Hotel is expected to become one of the city's most expensive.
Jin Jiang Hotels expected the design of Shanghai Tower J Hotel to exceed Forbes (Mobil)'s Five-Star, AAA's Five-Diamond, the Platinum Five-Star in China, and the Green Hotel standards.
But some residents have shrugged at the news.
"It seems everyone only cares about which one is the highest, so developers constantly scale new heights. But what's the significance?" a local resident, surnamed Zhang, said.
"(Shanghai) residents have seen skyscrapers spring up overnight - the Jinmao Tower, the World Financial Center and now the Shanghai Tower. What will be next? They will become nothing but a waste of social and financial resources."
